Retirement/relocation destination?

Retire isn’t quite the right term, as I expect to one day die on the clock. But five years from now when my daughter is a college freshman, I’m open to living somewhere I could actually have civil rights.

I’ve always had a soft spot for college towns, so I think I could be content in Blacksburg, Va. If that becomes unaffordable, I will have to hope somewhere like Carbondale, Ill, is an adequate substitute.

 

As a retiree, who picked living on a big sandbar out in the North Atlantic, let me just add another factor to consider. Access to medical care, which gets more important the older you get. I would never live on Cape Cod if it wasn't within relatively easy (a little under 2 hours most of the time) driving distance of Boston, one of the world's medical capitals.

 

I grew up in my northeast state hometown; went away to college, spent a few years in two Bumfuckvilles starting my newspaper career, and eventually moved back to my hometown to work at two of our regional papers. Now out of the biz.

I have likely another 12-17 years of work. Not looking to move anywhere in retirement. Other than the odd hurricane, rare tornado and even rarer earthquake, the weather ain’t bad where I am. Yeah, winters may not always be great, but if there’s a big storm, I just stay home and hunker down for a day, then use the snowblower. I don’t have to worry about giant floods or the ground breaking open I’m under my feet. If I really get sick of winter, I try to save some money and head to Florida for a week.

I’m within a few hours’ drive to mountains, lakes, major and minor cities. We currently have a wood bat summer league team, although the future of the team is unclear. I have two minor league baseball teams within a 45-minute drive each direction. I have major league/pro sports teams within a 2-2.5 hour trip one way.

Within walking distance, I have a library, a movie theater, a bunch of restaurants, a couple of bars, if I so desire. My street is a little run-down, but it’s OK. We get along fine with neighbors on each side of us, and tolerate the one across the street.

All in all, I’m staying where I’m at. If you would have told me this when I was in high school, I would have thought you weee nuts.

 

Just FYI, I'm sure you know this, but Blacksburg is a TRUE college town, where half the population scatters from May-August and there are some real townie/student politics going on. When people talk about Tech vs. UVA, it's that Blacksburg is a college town and that Charlottesville is a city that happens to have a college in it.

That said, you could do worse than Blacksburg/Christiansburg if you're looking for quiet and great outdoor activities. Roanoke's not too far away if you're looking for a mid-size city fix. Don't think I could ever do it, just too small for me. But it works for some.

To your other point, yeah, 20 years in newspapers have ensured that I have no chance at retirement before 65. I'm hoping I'm in my retirement gig, if we're being honest. Richmond's the perfect speed for me -- big enough to have everything with enough neighborhoods that you can still find a sort of small-city appeal. I'm also pretty well paid amongst the golf association communications crowd, and my only real "upgrades" would be to go the NYC or Southern Cal, and neither hold much appeal for me.

 

Mine should be well-documented: barrier island off the coast of North Carolina.
Yeah, hurricanes suck, and the resulting insurance sucks even worse, but I love Southern coastal living. It's worth it.
My hometown is getting unmanageable in terms of infrastructure because of the number of people retiring there from out of state.
I'm just going to stop here because unless something happens, my last full day of work* is Nov. 1, and maybe I'll do some long form piece about my experiences.

*Last full day of doing what I'm currently doing. I'm too young just to do nothing. I'll find something else less stressful for another 6-7 years.

 

Lots of great small college towns. Granville, Ohio. Denison for D III, close enough to Columbus if you have the Big Ten fix. Farmville, Va., home of Longwood and Hampden-Sydney, close to UVA. Hanover, Va., home to Randolph-Macon. Monmouth or McMinnville, Ore. Pullman/Moscow.

 

My best friend from college lives in Washington, in your neck of the woods. Might be something to check out.

 

Hanover County, unfortunately, has earned the nickname "Klanover" in recent years, and for good reason. Best avoided, though Ashland is quaint.

 

I’ve warned my wife if I ever have real medical problems like heart issues, I’m just finding an apartment a few blocks from the Cleveland Clinic.

 

I need a weird sweet spot where it isn’t so big and popular as to become unaffordable, but the local uni. is big enough to provide a plentiful supply of performing arts and, yes, sports.

And I need it to at least be a purpleish-blue state, because after a lifetime of Tennessee-Alabama-Georgia, if I uproot I truly want it to be a different atmosphere where people don’t worship the graven image of the GOP elephant.

Otherwise I’d probably burrow in closer to downtown Birmingham. There are still a couple of neighborhoods that are safe enough and affordable enough to make city living doable. I’m just a little jaded by deep suburbia right now.